York

Best known for his 2007 breakout hit *Below the Heavens* (with producer Exile), the Los Angeles emcee Blu was quickly embraced by bloggers, critics, and young hip-hop heads in general, touted as the next big thing and courted by countless major labels and famous rappers alike. This album (originally titled *NoYork!*) is his sixth full-length and was given to fans on his 2011 tour. Now receiving an official reissue from indie-rap HQ Nature Sounds, it flaunts a decidedly weirder future-funk vibe, with no shortage of glitchy, love-it-or-hate-it production from cats like Flying Lotus, Daedelus, Samiyam, Shafiq Husayn, and Knxwledge. Blu\'s smooth flow and reference-rich lyricism still charms, with plenty of shoutouts to artsy-kid touchstones like Andy Warhol and Michel Gondry. There\'s also an avalanche of guest features (nearly 20 total) from an unusually diverse cross-section of the hip-hop universe, including Sa-Ra, U-God, and Pac Div. This isn\'t Blu\'s most cohesive effort, but undoubtedly it\'s one of his most interesting.